What's up with Whatsit

This is my dadgum title today. Say something about it.

Sapsuckers. Rugrats. Worri-some-warts. Hard-heads. Silly selves. All of these are things that teachers, including myself, have called students in exasperation. There are certain weeks when we know to expect children to act like they're as crazy as a cat in a catnip bed. The week of the fair. The week before Christmas holidays. The last week of the school year. And this one: the week of Halloween. Bleck. Sometimes it's hard, fooling with other folks' children.

* * *

I'm a memoir addict. A memoir and an autobiography are a shade different, a memoir being the more interesting of the two. I'm speaking as a librarian and reading addict here.

One fairly new memoir, Audition by Barbara Walters, has me mesmerized. I'm not particularly a fan of Barbara Walters - I'll go out of my way not to watch her specials. However, having interviewed everybody on the earth, I knew her book would be good, and it is.

Read it. That's an order.

* * *

I have a whole $325 to spend at work. Every teacher in the district has this much. Our district is funny about giving you money, then telling you what you HAVE to order with it. The $1200 I had to spend a while back HAD to be for hardback books. The $325 HAS to be for general classroom supplies. Bulletin board border and stuff like that. Also, if you need any equipment, you can get that. I'm looking at a little classroom laminator.

We are under a mandate called "Jackson First," in which we are requested to try to spend our money within the city of Jackson if possible. This is to benefit the Jackson businesses. There is only one teacher resource store within the city limits, Write-Way School Supplies. Don't you know that guy is rolling in the dough, being the only teacher store in the city where the school district HAS to spend their money? Anyway, I didn't have a catalog, so I got on the website and requested one.

Get this: they sent a man over here with my catalog. Can you believe it? I guess they DO like Jackson Public Schools, with service like that. I couldn't get over it. I thought they would mail it. So I'm going to knock myself out ordering from them every chance I get - I guess they figured on that too. Librarians are more exempt than teachers from the spending-only-in-Jackson rule, because there are no library-book-stores here, but I'm still going to order from them when I can.

It's rare to find service with a smile these days. I'd like to reward it.